Enaj, I think you miss the point a little bit.

You obviously do not know what Cronulla was like before last Sunday.

I have family who used to regularly go to Cronulla to swim and surf, who no longer go because they have been the victims of harassment for years by Lebanese gangs.

As someone who is a strong advocate for women's rights on this site (and good on you) you should be equally critical of these gangs who terrorise young women, such as happened to my 14-year-old cousin who was threatened with rape and has been too scared to go back.

What happened last weekend was wrong, but it was in response to poor upholding of the law. Vigilantism only exists where there is a perception police are not doing their job.

t.u.s

i JUST SAW THE MOST TERRIBLE EMAIL I HAVE EVER BEEN SENT.

I am advising all to stay away from cronulla and lakemba this sunday, under the 'brothers ans sisters of Anzacs' banner terrible things are scheduled to happen.

It sounds like a white extremist wrote it, but if 1% of readers concur we will be in for very tense times.

If anyone has family within the zones please go to a motel or to family for the night, just this night, in the interests of safety.

this is getting too much even for me, lebs, whites whoever, i know it is hard but it is time to walk away, the crabs are being drawn.

"What happened last weekend was wrong, but it was in response to poor upholding of the law. Vigilantism only exists where there is a perception police are not doing their job."

Good point t.u.s

What as really disappointed, and occasionally disgusted me are the posts on this topic which seem to revel in Sundays events, as if the breakdown in law and order among the locals (and not so local) somehow vindicates their extremist position. They do not; all they show is that Anglo Aussies (or whatever tag we are using) have an equal disregard for the real principals of Australian society, democracy, the rule of law, freedom from fear and persecution, as the leb Aussie gangs.

As some one who has been the victim of racist name-calling, and the child of some one who has been beaten up for "being Asian on public transport", the weekend's violence at Cronulla is terrifying to me.

Cronulla and peoples' reaction to it remind me of another incident of inter-racial violence such as that on the weekend: the massacre of Chinese miners at Lambing Flat (near Young) in 1861.

The result was the enforced restriction of Chinese migrants' movement around the colony of New South Wales and an immigration tax aimed at Chinese people to discourage immigration. This seems like a familiar argument (and it should: the residents of Cronulla who led the weekend's violence wanted no more "lebs" at their beach, and immigration restrictions have been rolled out in the recent past as a solution to the "terrorist threat").

It is a particular type of person who imbues an entire group with the characteristics of an individual. Sweeping statements like "all white people are racist" or "all Muslims are violent", which may have at one point been based on an individual interaction, have no place in informing the collective consciousness. I'd like to think it is a very big leap from "a man I believe to be of middle-eastern appearance yelled abuse at me" to "there's one! Get him!". The unfortunate coincidence of skin colour or racial characteristics is not something one can do much about (nor would most choose to) and for many unfortunate individuals of a variety of backgrounds at the weekend and beyond, it was a defining factor in their physical safety.

Language is important in defining who we are: our leaders' responses to the Cronulla violence are full of meaning also: to ignore their explicit and implicit statements is to ignore an important influence in defining the acceptability of behaviours and reactions.

It is reasonable to ask the question: after the condemnation of violence, where is the tolerance that helps us to rebuild our community and move forward as a unified society?

One only has to read through the above posts to verify racism is alive and well in Australia.

We lefties don't have say a thing. (but i just couldn't help myself)

Bingo

John howard has incited fear and faned Australias rascist and xenophobic underbelly for electoral gain, and now there is blood on his hands.

Time to go Johny!